


Light up the Dark

by shobogan



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, X-Men (Comicverse), Young Avengers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family, Gen, Utopia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2014-05-13
Packaged: 2018-01-24 16:11:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1611347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shobogan/pseuds/shobogan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik wants to meet his grandchildren. After his herculean effort in rescuing Kitty Pryde, how can Cyclops refuse?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Light up the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> So, clearly, this is an AU! Just a tiny one. In this version of events, Erik awoke before the Nimrod invasion. Inspired by his reconnection with Kitty Pryde, he made the connection between the Young Avengers' Wiccan and Speed to Wanda's William and Thomas.
> 
> For Billy, it's after Young Avengers v1 but before Children's Crusade. (Hopefully things will go differently now, geez.) This is my first time writing him, so I hope he comes across okay. Apologies to Tommy, I just didn't think I could juggle both of them. I'm sure he'll visit later.
> 
> Warnings for mentions of the Holocaust, and the implied death of a child.

It's a bit freaky.

He never says it out loud – it would be ungrateful, and hurtful, and maybe racist? can he be racist against himself? - but he can't help thinking it. He's standing on an island that's really an asteroid made for dominating humanity, for one thing. For _another_ thing, they call it Utopia, and he's read enough scifi to know where that goes.

But they invited him here. (Well, him and Tommy, but his brother is recovering from a ridiculously stupid, ridiculously brave stunt that saved the entire team.) _Cyclops_ , basically the leader of the mutant race, invited him here. Because - 

Because their grandfather wanted to meet him.

How could he say no? He still can't find the Scarlet Witch – can't find his mother, his first mother – and if nothing else...Magneto knows what she's like. 

And really, it's kind of nice. He's only ever felt this relaxed with his team, goofing off and eating junk food like any respectable young super hero. Outside, in the streets – even if no one around knew he was a mutant, he never felt quite safe. It didn't matter how powerful he was. (And his powers are growing every day, and it's a little frightening, but he can't let that stop him from saving people, can he?

 _Maybe that's what Wanda thought_ , his mind always whispers, and he always ignores.)

But _here_ \- everyone is like him. He's been here ten minutes and he's seen a girl with butterfly wings, kids made of stone, a boy with green skin and white eyes. They wave at him, they smile; they're relaxed, and safe, and happy.

“So, uh – where are we going, exactly?”

Rogue was the one who greeted him when the jet (the _jet_ ) landed. He flinched back, a bit, when she reached for his hand, and she must have seen the sudden, desperate apology in his eyes.

“It's all right, darlin'. Ah've finally got it under control.” 

So they shook hands, and then he was beaming, because he was _shaking hands with an X-Man_. 

She didn't talk much – probably just letting him take it all in – but she was definitely leading him somewhere. And she doesn't answer, right away, when he asks.

“The infirmary. One of them, anyway.”

His feet stop before his mind catches on, and he almost stumbles.

“What? Why?” Magneto couldn't – he's _Magneto_.

Rogue's smile is more assuring than he thought it would be. Probably comes with being an X-Man. (Unless you're Wolverine.)

“He went a bit too far with his powers, is all. Overextended himself.”  
“He can _do_ that?”

Her laugh is low and rueful. “We can all do that, sugah.”

Well, that's comforting.

“Come on now, we're almost there.”

 

He's not sure what his expectations _were_ , exactly, but this definitely blows them away. 

“Eli would have a field day in here,” he murmurs, and he can't help running a hand over a containment field.

Freaky. But in a good way.

“We'll have to invite him over too, next time.” 

His hand stills as he looks up. “Really? But he's not - ”

“A mutant? Neither is Dr. Rao. An' technically speaking, Warlock's an alien an' Danger's a robot.”

“...Danger?”

“Long story, ah'll fill you in later. For now - ” She gestures towards one of the rooms up ahead. He can't help but just stare, for a few seconds, before looking up again.

“You're not - ”

“Ah can, if you want me to. But I reckon Magnus would like some time getting' to know you on his own.” There's that smile again. “He won't bite, ah promise.”

“But if he _does_ , you're right here.”

“Ah'm right here.”

“Okay.”

Okay. 

This is – he figured it might happen, someday, and he was never sure how to feel about it. He grew up watching Magneto on the news, and most of the time he was blowing something up. On the other hand – he was doing it to protect his people. So he said, anyway. 

And when he realised he was different – worse than he already knew - maybe, sometimes, Magneto made him feel a little bit safer.

So he stops staring, stops picking at his pockets, and strides on in.

 

Magneto is sitting up, thumbing through a book, as if he hadn't heard them outside. He looks up as soon as Billy walks in, though, and - 

He never thought the Master of Magnetism could smile like that.

“Welcome, William. I apologise for the sterile surroundings – they have me on strict bed rest for at least another week.”

Stop staring. Stop staring. “Rogue said you, um, overextended yourself?”

His smile turns wry. “That certainly is one way to phrase it, yes.” He raises a hand, gestures, and a cushioned chair – that must have metal in it somewhere – floats over and lands beside him. “Don't tell anyone I did that.” 

“Gotcha.” Their secret. Okay.

He sits down.

“So – what happened? Were you fighting giant sentinels or something?”

“Nothing so crude, my boy.” He lays the book down, and Billy catches a glimpse of the cover – something about quantum frequency. “I was, ostensibly, attempting to gain the X-Mens' trust, but I can't say it was entirely selfless.”

“...It wasn't?”

“No.” His smile turns wistful. “You see, the girl I saved means a great deal to me.”

Saved. He saved someone. That's good, right? “Who is she? Is she okay now?”

Magneto just looks at him, for a moment, like – well, like he's said the right thing.

“She's...not entirely well, but hopefully on the road to recovery.” His eyebrows arch, just slightly. “I hear the same is true of your brother.”

“Yeah, he pulled one of those reckless stunts again. And, you know, saved all our butts.” Billy shakes his head, and now he's smiling, too. “And he tries to pass it off like he doesn't care that much.”

“I wonder who he could possibly take after,” is the wry response. Wry, and fond, and really, really sad.

Billy isn't sure what to say, and he figures Magneto sees it, because he changes the subject.

“How long will you be staying?”  
“Um – a week, probably. Unless my team needs me.” 

“Of course.” 

“Yeah.”

Magneto cocks his head, brow furrowing. “Are you scared of me, William?”

He can feel his eyes bulging as his mouth runs away from him. “What? I – no, I – yeah. A little.”

And Magneto just nods. “I suspected you might be. I am, after all, rather infamous.”

“A bit, yeah.”

Then he's just quiet, for a few long moments.

“I've made a great deal of mistakes in my life, William. My powers erupted in blood and fire -” his mouth twitches, just a little, a more private sort of smile - “and I suppose I never truly emerged from it.”

“What happened?” There goes his mouth again. His shoulders hunch. “Sorry.”

But Magneto shakes his head. “If I'm to share with anyone, William, it should be you.”

That's when it really strikes him. Magneto – Erik Lehnsherr – really, truly considers him family. 

It's kind of exhilarating, and kind of horrifying.

Magneto is tapping his book; a low, gentle sort of thrumming. It takes a moment before Billy realises he does that too, when he's thinking.

“Your parents – the Kaplans, correct?”

“Um – yeah.” There's a surge of protectiveness sparking hot in his chest, but a moment later he realises how ridiculous it is.

“Yiddish.” 

“Yeah.”

There's that silence again, dull and heavy.

“Ours was Eisenhardt.”

He doesn't realise he's bolted up straight until after it happens. 

“You're -”

“Yes. I'm afraid your mother wasn't – nor, indeed, was your grandmother.” There's an ache in his voice. Billy gets the impression very few people have ever heard it.

“Magda was Roma. We met when we were children, and met again in Auschwitz.”

Billy feels like someone dropped a lead weight in his chest. That's – well, that explains a lot, doesn't it? 

His parents told him stories, sometimes, about relatives and friends who didn't make it, people he might have known, might have loved, if - 

“I – you – I - ” His voice is breaking, but that's okay, right? In this situation, that has to be okay.

“I know.” Again, he shakes his head. “We escaped, Magda and I. We built a home, began a family.”

“Mom?”

“No.” He looks up, then, out the door. “The girl I mentioned. Well – she's a woman, now, and a fine one.”

Another change of subject? Why now?

“Katherine Pryde.” 

_Shadowcat_? 

“She has a striking resemblance to my first daughter.”

Oh. Oh, no.

Magneto's gaze turns back to him, and – how can he be so sad and so calm? Billy can feel the beginnings of tears prickling at his eyes, but Magneto just looks tired.

“You, of course, look a great deal like your mother.”

“Oh.” It's barely a sound, and he feels stupid for it a second later. Come on, Wiccan, you can do better than that. “I – wanted to ask you. About her.”

Another smile, this one thin and worn. “Perhaps my _biggest_ mistake, William, was the treatment of my children.”

Well, no surprise there. Wanda and Pietro were in the Brotherhood, after all. He's pretty sure they were his age, when they started.

“I can, however -” He pauses. Doesn't hesitate, because Billy doesn't think he actually does that, but considers. “I can tell you that your mother was kind. Courageous. A woman repeatedly bowed and broken, who repeatedly pulled herself up and put herself together again. A woman dedicated to being her best, truest self, regardless of what consequences may follow.”

The words come, and it's almost like he's there with her in the woods again, weak and scared and lonely.

_Be yourself, and the Keslars of the world can't touch you._

_Stand your ground. See what happens._

He can almost feel her finger tapping his nose, and he's crying, dammit, he's crying in front of _Magneto_ \- 

No. No, he's crying in front of his grandfather.

Magneto – Erik – holds out a hand, and Billy squeezes it for dear life as he shuts his eyes.

“It's all right, my boy.” It's a soft murmur, and it reminds him of both his mothers, smooth and warm and strong. It makes him feel safe. 

“I promise you, I will not make the same mistake twice.”

**Author's Note:**

>  _if life itself has a meaning, is it anything more than what we choose to call it_  
>  sweet words make appealing, but they only serve to mask the smell of what you buried  
> is it worth your while to spend on a lie, even though you cannot see eye to eye  
> and give in to the rumour seduction, run by fear and all the good intentions  
>   
>    
> \- _rewind_ , poets of the fall


End file.
